So Colley, I'm glad you and Colley were able to come over with Mason. Glad to have y'all. You come preach, brother. You'll turn with me tonight to the 16th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter 16. We'll begin reading in verse 5. Matthew 16, beginning in verse 5. And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, it is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why ye reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do you yet not understand, neither remember, the five loaves of the 5,000 and how many baskets you took up? Neither the seven loaves of the 4,000 and how many baskets you took up? How is it that you do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. There were some assumptions made last evening. Sister Justice asked me to write down my sermon title and the text that I was going to use. One of the assumptions that she made was that I would know that that far ahead. She also assumed that I might know what my title meant. And she made another assumption that she could read my writing. And I challenged her. When I wrote those things down, I said, now I want you to read that back to me. And here she struggled. Here's my subject. The Bane of the Pharisee. And the word that she struggled with was that word, Bane. It's not because my handwriting was that bad. It's just not a word that you hear very often. And it made me doubt myself. Have I chosen the wrong word? So I did what doubters do today. They go to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary. And they find out what the word Bane means. And the word Bane means a source of harm. I use the word right. The bane of the Pharisee. There's more than meets the eye in the statement in the Book of Galatians. That when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son. Many, many things come to mind. The moral state of his chosen people at the time the Lord came comes to my mind. The long silence of 400 years that portended the Lord suddenly coming to his temple. The geopolitical environment of the day that produced an oppressed Jewish people who read of their coming Messiah with greater interest as the weary days of the Roman rule grew longer. An infusion of a Greek way of thinking A scheme for thinking that is with us to this day had to be put in place. A language that linguistic scholars would even tell us today is much more robust than the English language had to be put in place. In another sense, I believe the fullness of time was come when the Lord Jesus came. In his place, and in that time, there were three moral groups that had arisen. I call them moral groups because they were, in their meaning and the way that they lived, moral in nature. They were mature. They were not upstarts. There had been sufficient time for their way of thinking to develop. And they came about, and they were active. Those three, two of which we have just named, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians. The most interaction our Lord had was with the first of the three, the Pharisees, and oftentimes he would group the scribes with the Pharisees. We will spend our time tonight looking at the bane of the Pharisees, but remind ourselves that there were two other groups that our Lord warned us about. The Sadducees were people who we might call the materialists of their day, the rationalists of their day. If they could not touch it, it did not exist. Therefore, they did not believe in the resurrection or the existence of angels. The Herodians were a people who were sensual, and they were like their namesake. The Herods that sat on the places of rulership among the Gentile people over this Jewish people were very, very in tune with their senses and did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. It is my belief, strong belief, that this too is part of the fullness of time and that our Lord permitted them to be as mature as they were in their doctrine so that we would have something to help us in our day. If you believe that the Lord is not like that and he is going to address severely sin in every age to the point where he will no longer tolerate it in any age, you understand that God does permit sin to ripen sometimes for his own glorious purposes that we have no right to question. And we remember that many years before this, as the children of Israel came out of Egypt and were on their way to the promised land, they were suspended in a sense. And the reason given is because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. The Lord is at work when he allows providentially these three groups to arise and to mature. They are seasoned. We also believe that this was important because he does have a purpose for us to know this lesson today. Because this made its way into our Bible, we appreciate the fact that the Bible being preserved for us, it's a lesson for us. If he warned his people then to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, he's warning us today to do the same. We are to heed that warning. So tonight, we consider this subject matter the bane of the Pharisees. And we see that he wisely associates their influence with this thing called leaven. And we will learn as we go through our Bible that leaven has the ability to secretly move and pervade through anything that it touches. And if it's not arrested, it will completely corrupt that which it touches. And this is what we have before us. We read in the 11th and 12th verses of Matthew 16 that the Lord laid out the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. But I have mentioned 11, and in Mark chapter 8 and verse 15, he charged them saying, take heed, beware of the 11 of the Pharisees and of Herod. And then in Luke chapter 12 and verse 1, he is more specific. When he says, in the meantime, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trod one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples, first of all, beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There it is. So two things are mentioned. And I think they are related. The doctrine of the Pharisee as well as hypocrisy. They seem to go together. Their teachings lend themselves to doing things that are under the surface. You did not know about it because you can't see it unless you have been warned ahead of time that it exists and what the characteristics are. The bane of the Pharisee. Levin is used to instruct us about how their doctrine and their teaching influences many people, and we take it to mean that it could influence God's people. Here, Levin is warned against. And Levin, it seems to me, in our Bible, to be a universal symbol of sin. Some time ago at the school that my son attends, there was an administrator, it's a Christian school, that mentioned that leaven was a pervasive thing, but it was for good. And my ears certainly got attuned to what he had to say there, and I thought, well maybe he has something that I just don't know. And there are those that believe that the Lord from time to time used leaven to describe how the gospel was going to be so pervasive in the time to come that it would completely conquer the world. A little leaven hidden in meal, you see. But this is not the case, and we won't take the time, we shouldn't take the time tonight to go through every instance where the Lord uses leaven, either himself or in the Old Testament offerings or in the New Testament teaching. But I believe still that leaven in our Bible is a universal symbol of sin. something to be warned against. And here, there's no question about it. It's something to be warned against. Our Lord warned them against the leaven of the Pharisees, which was hypocrisy. What about leaven? Leaven works in secret. What it does, it does in the dark. This relates to one of the things that our Lord points out, and that is hypocrisy. We'll talk further about that in just a moment. The next thing I note about leaven is that if you leave it unchecked, it will completely ruin what it touches. You say, well, I use leaven to make bread. Yes, but you put it in an oven. And when you put it in an oven, it arrests the process. It stops what leaven is doing. If you were to leave leaven in that loaf uncooked, it would completely corrupt it and be good for nothing. Now, Paul used the symbol of leaven when he was talking to a church that had severe problems. One of the problems was moral in nature. But then he lumps together the moral problem with two other problems that we would say we would never have the moral problem they had at the church at Corinth, but we might have these other two. And he tells them that it's entirely possible if you leave these things unchecked, it's going to ruin this church. Churches can be ruined by the doctrine and the practice taught by the Pharisee, where things are done in secret, and people are not what they really are. They appear to be one thing, but they are something else. Turn with me, if you will, to 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 6. He says to these people, you're glorying, is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leaveneth a whole lump? Purge out there for the old leaven, that you may be a new lump as your own leaven. For even Christ our Passover's sacrifice for us Therefore, let us keep the feast. That's probably a reference to the Lord's table. Let us keep the feast. Or maybe it's the love feast that they used to have in those assemblies. I don't know. But when you do it, there's some other things that might creep in that have the same leavenous effects, if that's a word. Let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice. and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Beware of leaven, the thing that can work secretly in an assembly and absolutely ruin it. I take it here that it's totally possible for this assembly at Corinth to have the leavenous effects ruin it entirely. Before we proceed further with understanding a little bit more about this matter of hypocrisy, let's make sure we understand it from a biblical perspective. And let's make sure that we don't use the broad brush to paint all of the Pharisees as being condemned in such severe terms that our Lord said, among that group was one man and who knows how many more. a Pharisee of the Pharisees, who was going about to attain his own righteousness, and the Lord miraculously intervened. But there was the general characteristic of the Pharisee that our Lord here condemns. When I think of a hypocrite, I think of one in its most simple terms as being someone who portrays to the world something that they are not. But I want to remind all of us tonight that when our Lord goes on the offensive against the hypocrite, that his definition of hypocrisy is much more full than that, and it's much more weighty than that. And it applies both for then and for now. There are several parts of the Pharisee. And here, I would ask all of us, it's not a bad thing for all of us to do a self-examination. We ought to be ready for the Lord to examine us and say, do these things fit? And we cannot take any comfort in the fact that, well, some of these things don't fit, but some do. If one of these characteristics fit, then I would say we all should be warned to do our dead level best to get rid of this problem. So what are some of the examples? Number one, a Pharisee, a hypocrite, loves the externals, and they love the praise of men. In Matthew chapter six in verse two, We had these words spoken of our Lord by our Lord concerning these type of people. He counsels against them and their practice, but he defines their practice while he counsels against them. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Verse five, and when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. And then in verse 16, moreover, when you fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Each one of those things, giving to the poor, praying, Fasting are all sanctioned good works in our Bible, but they are completely nullified by an impure motive. We ought to be a people who are willing to have the Lord check our motives. And here in this case, their motive was to be seen of men. And the Lord says they have their reward. He's not saying I'm going to reward them one day for a good work done. What they're wanting to do is they're wanting to have praise of men, and they receive it. They get it then. So that's hypocrisy. What they have done is they have presented to the world, we're doing these things to glorify God. But that's not what they were doing. In secret, they were doing it to get the praise of men. That, by definition, the Lord's definition, is part of religious hypocrisy. Here's something else, characteristic number two. The Pharisee, the hypocrite, loves to find fault. They love to find fault with other men. They look for the little things in another person's life that they can point to and say, you have sinned against God. That's what the hypocrite does. That's what the Pharisee did. In Luke chapter 6, in verse 41, and why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother, brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. The hypocrite, the Pharisee, is perceptive. They are perceptive of the faults of others, but it seems to preoccupy them. They have difficulty looking at themselves and seeing what their problems are. They can certainly point out others. That, by definition, the Lord's definition, is a hypocrite. And that is to be avoided, and we're to be warned about that type of behavior and those types of people. They are willing to confront the brother with their sin. And they believe they have the ability to help them get rid of that fault. But the Lord says you're incapable of doing such because of your own sin. But when you cast out the sin that is far greater than their sin, then you'll be able to help them. The hypocrite loves to find fault. Third characteristic, the Pharisee, the hypocrite, has no problem understanding the natural, but they do not perceive the spiritual. In Luke chapter 12 and verse 54, and he said also to the people, when you see a cloud arise out of the west, straightway you say, there cometh a shower, and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say there will be heat, and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it that you don't discern this time? And this time is a reference to the Son of God coming into the world as he had been prophesied for centuries, and they didn't even know it. Now, I'm reminded that it's entirely possible for that prevailing characteristic to be seen today. We are occupied with the signs of the times. We are occupied, rather, with the events of the day. We are occupied with the things in the natural world. But we are not sensitive to the things that the Lord has laid out in his word regarding the next great epoch in his grand program. And the Lord told us that would be the case. He said that when he comes again, there will be those that say, lo here, lo there. But then he had laid out everything one should look for before he comes again, and that they are oblivious to. They don't see those things, in spite of it being written in our Bible. I believe that's because they have been infected with this terrible leaven of hypocrisy of the Pharisee's spirit is still alive and among us today. Now here's another that may be even more obvious. Another characteristic of the Pharisee, and God help us, of all that I've said so far that we're not guilty of this, they allow the traditions of men to be their rule. in things of a religious nature. In Matthew chapter 15 in verse 3, but he answered and said unto them, why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, honor thy father and mother, and he that cursed his father and mother, let him die to death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, it is a gift whatsoever thou mayest be profited by me, and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus you have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. And then here's the word. You hypocrites. Well did I prophesy of you, saying, this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Now there's a biblical definition of hypocrisy, really being something that you're not portraying to others. All that they see is that whenever there's a religious observance to take place, you're there. Whenever things that your denomination or your group says needs to be done in this religious world called Christianity, you do it and people see you doing it. But what they don't see is that your heart is far from the Lord. And how did one get in that place? What they did is they allowed the traditions of men to trump the scripture. Now let me tell you something. This is a problem that I observe, and I'm not the first one to observe it. It affects us. We hold certain positions based on what daddy taught, or what granddaddy taught, or what this esteemed brother taught. And yet someone can take the scripture and say, well, now, this is what the Bible says about the matter in context, rightly divided, and it's shut out completely. I've never heard such things. So what? You better be careful there. because you're showing evidence of this Pharisee problem that the Lord warned his people about, and that is elevating the tradition of men over the scripture. And by the way, that always happens. You start injecting tradition into your practice, and it will always get to the point where it trumps scripture. It doesn't stay on the back burner. It elevates to the point where we are today in some places. You question this, and people say, well, you're questioning what God has said in his word. Well, no. God has said this in his word. No, we've never heard that. It is a dangerous place to be. And we ought to be warned about it. And the Lord told us to be warned about it. Here's some other characteristics. And these are significant. Quickly. Our Lord, by the way, had his most harsh words for the scribes and the Pharisees, hypocrites. Now, thinking about that, they were blistering. I don't know what it would be like, what was like or will be like for those men in the day of judgment, but if it's harsher than that, that will be a pleasant sight. So this is some of the things he says. The hypocrite, the Pharisee, works to prevent men from entering the kingdom. In Matthew 23 in verse 13, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves Neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Let me give you an example without naming names. I've been exposed to it. I think. And it's been, it's happened more than one time in our little assembly. We have people that have come to see truths that are dear to us. They move in and come among us. And then this type of activity begins. And it's so severe that if these events would have had fruition as far as they were concerned, those people that came in out of a good heart to know and to learn the truth and to love it would have immediately exited and gone in a different direction. That's the attitude of these hypocrites. They didn't like people getting into the kingdom. They tried to keep people from getting into the kingdom. They tried to keep people from learning the truth. Those are Pharisees and hypocrites. They are not what they appear to be. They are not. The next thing about the Pharisee. They insist upon obeying the minor matters of the law, but the weightier matters of the law they despise. Listen to our Lord again in verse 23 and verse 24. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done. If the law called for tithe, if they were under the law, and they were, and it called for tithe, do it. But you're not doing the weightier matters. You're not to leave those undone. And then he calls them blind guides, which strain at a gnat. and swallow a camel. Here's something else you could start to see if you're dealing with a Pharisee. They're legalistic. They are moving toward the use of the law improperly. That's a Pharisee. And we see it in our day and in our time. And that's in the evidence. Here's another one. They portray an outward holiness of life, but when the Lord reveals the truth about them, they are guilty of heinous sins. Not just trivial sins, and there's no such thing as a trivial sin, but lighter sins. They're guilty of heinous sins. In Matthew 23 and verse 25, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. You see someone who is parading an outward holiness? It is not beyond reason that we should consider, is there something they're hiding? What is it that they have at the core of their life that is despicable in God's sight? Because a hypocrite will do that. They're portrayed to the world that they're righteous and they're sanctified and they're holy. It may be what they wear or where they go, but the thing of the matter is they're hiding something. And it's heinous. Here's something else. They denounce the sins of those that come before them. But the Lord says in truth, if the same situation arose in your time, you would do the same thing. In chapter 23 again, in verse 29. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets, you garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore, you be witnesses unto yourselves that you are the children of them who killed the prophets. fill you up then the measure of your fathers, and these same people were the ones who were in the leading edge of telling the Roman authorities to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. The great prophet with the capital P, they wanted him slain. And yet they said, we'd never do that. But the truth of the matter is they would. Our Lord now, and we close with this, has given us a warning. I take it as is applicable today as it was when he uttered the words, beware of 11 of the Pharisees and Sadducees, which is hypocrisy. And he has defined hypocrisy in such a way that it leaves no wiggle room to show how insidious it is, how he despises such things. I'm reminded that when our Lord began to deal with these people, his method became more severe as time went on. You know, the Pharisee, the hypocrite, has a holier-than-thou attitude. And here's something I think is wonderful about our Lord. sinners were attracted to him. He remained holy, harmless, undefiled. But they knew in the Lord Jesus Christ they had one who could solve their sin problem. And there was one woman who came. She was a sinner. And she wept before our Lord. She showed signs of contrition and repentance. And here are these Pharisees. And they began to murmur. By the way, here's another sign, I believe, of a Pharisee. They do things in secret. They'll write you. What about this man doing this? What about this woman doing that? But they never confront the individual. They're working in secret. They're murmuring. And our Lord knows the thoughts. And in that case of that woman, He looks, and he tells the one that's there, he says, this woman is grieving so much because she loves me much. Her sin, she knows, has been so defiling. And she's fallen in love with me as the Savior, and she loves me deeply. That was a rebuke to those Pharisees there that day. And then it escalates to what we began to read in Matthew 23. And the Lord was unafraid to confront it. Times may call for God's men to confront error. And the error is not restricted to errors on church organization. Or frankly, it's not restricted to the nature of salvation by works or by faith, though both of those things are important in God's program. Sometimes sins that have to be confronted are sins of the heart. And the Lord told us as his people, I'm warning you, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. It will ruin, it will cause you harm if it's not left unchecked. That's true of us individually. And it's true of a church. And so. These truths. We bout.